Ontario cancels nearly-built $200M wind farm over threat to bat populations

By Kelly Egan, Ottawa Citizen, December 10, 2019

Ontario’s Environment Minister has cancelled a $200-million wind farm south of Ottawa — one almost fully constructed — because the giant turbines pose a threat to nearby bat populations.

In a Dec. 4 letter, Minister Jeff Yurek said he’s revoking the approval given to the Nation Rise Wind Farm, which has already erected a number of the 29 planned turbines in a rural area near the villages of Crysler and Finch in the Township of North Stormont.

The surprising decision comes about seven months after construction began on the 100-megawatt project, proposed by EDP Renewables, a subsidiary of a multinational with North American headquarters in Texas.

Yurek wrote to Margaret Benke, an appellant and leading critic of Nation Rise, that he was concerned about the effect of 200-metre high turbines on colonies of Hoary bats and Big and Little Brown bats, the latter being listed on Ontario’s Species at Risk list.

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/ontario-cancels-nearly-built-200m-wind-farm-over-threat-to-bat-populations

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